china protests

Last year, we talked about China needing to find a mechanism to fix its economy. It looks like it may have found it - by abruptly ending its zero-Covid policies. The FT’s Shanghai correspondent Tom Hale and Global China Editor James Kynge break down what President Xi Jinping’s main goals are and whether it’s enough to jumpstart the country’s economy.

Clips from CNN, BBC

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BTM listeners, we want to know what you think of the show and what you want to hear more of. Visit ft.com/btmsurvey to submit your feedback. 

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For further reading:

Xi Jinping’s plan to reset China’s economy and win back friends

China’s economy begins to reopen after 3 years of Covid isolation 

China’s Covid generation: the surging inequality behind Xi’s U-turn

I spent 10 days in a secret Chinese Covid detention centre

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On Twitter, follow Tom Hale (@TomHale_), James Kynge (@JKynge) and Michela Tindera (@mtindera07)

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

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We return to the expertise of Aidan Madigan-Curtis as China lifts its draconian COVID policy.

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Laowhy86 (@laowhy86) — aka Matthew Tye, aka C-Milk — is a Westerner who lived in China for 10 years, and watched it change from an opening and liberalizing society into regression and authoritarianism. His YouTube videos explain China, Chinese culture, and Chinese politics, and decode Chinese propaganda so viewers are armed with the knowledge to identify and resist it.

Welcome to what we’re calling our “Out of the Loop” episodes, where we dig a little deeper into fascinating current events that may only register as a blip on the media’s news cycle and have conversations with the people who find themselves immersed in them. Here, Laowhy86 joins us to share his Westerner’s perspective — with those of us out of the loop — on the uprisings going on in China right now over the government’s draconian lockdowns and ongoing human rights abuses. Listen, learn, and enjoy!

Full show notes and resources can be found here: jordanharbinger.com/763

On This Episode of Out of the Loop, We Discuss:

• Welded into an apartment building in China’s Xinjiang region to prevent their escape during the Chinese government’s strict “zero-COVID” lockdowns, 10 people — including a three-year-old child — were killed when a fire broke out.
• The violent crackdown by authorities during a candlelight vigil for victims of the fire escalated into massive protests against the government, and Chinese President Xi Jinping, across China — at a scale unseen since 1989’s Tiananmen Square massacre.
• Coordinated across 79 universities in China, these protests have evolved to include demands for political reform and an end to corruption — a rare display of unity among a population so long repressed by a regime that traditionally punishes dissent with social stigma, imprisonment, and death.
• The intensity of these protests is surprising given the effectiveness of surveillance tools used by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in the past. This indicates that there is a larger sentiment for dissent among the population than may be visibly apparent.
• What this wave of protests portends for the future of China, its people, its historically inflexible authoritarian government, and its place on the global stage.
• And much more!
• Connect with Jordan on Twitter, on Instagram, and on YouTube. If you have something you’d like us to tackle here on an Out of the Loop episode, drop Jordan a line at jordan@jordanharbinger.com and let him know!

Sign up for Six-Minute Networking — our free networking and relationship development mini course — at jordanharbinger.com/course!

Miss our conversation with David...

China has seen a surge in protests in cities all around the country, targeted at the country's Covid Zero policies. But nearly three years into this pandemic, why did they happen now? How does recent economic weakness factor into the demonstrations? And why did the government allow them to go on in the first place? On this episode, we speak with Victor Shih, a professor at the School of Global Policy & Strategy at UC San Diego and author of the new book, Coalitions of the Weak: Elite Politics in China from Mao’s Stratagem to the Rise of Xi. Shih explains this perilous moment for China, as it navigates the pandemic, a real estate bust and other assorted economic stresses.

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Over the weekend, protests against China’s strict coronavirus restrictions ricocheted across the country in a rare case of nationwide civil unrest. It was the most extensive series of protests since the pro-democracy movement in Tiananmen Square in 1989.

This is what these demonstrations look and feel like, and what they mean for President Xi Jinping and his quest for “zero Covid.”

Guest: Vivian Wang, a China correspondent for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• Demonstrations against coronavirus restrictions in China have evolved into broader demands. What are protesters calling for?
• In a country where protests are swiftly quashed, many who gathered to voice their discontent — under the watchful eye of the police — were uncertain about how far to go.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.